Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Information Center
Problematic prosecutions under the Statute of Limitations (SOL).
Until 2010, the SOL for murder was 15 years. It was eliminated for capital crimes, and raised to 30 years for serious crimes, and lengthened for most lesser crimes.
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Case Name |
Case Details |
Current Status |
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(Ushiku Triple Arrest) Victim Died 1995/01/17 |
Suspects: 3 men, all over the age of 70 were arrested and charged with robbery and murder. ~~~~~~~~ All were arrested 1 month ahead of the 15 year SOL in Dec of 2009. |
Evidence was a single fingerprint. All were released on 2009/12/26 |
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Saga Triple Women Murder Case 1987~1989 |
Defendant: Matsue Teruhiko. ~~~~ Arrested 6 hours before the 15 year SOL expired in July of 2002. |
Prosecution demanded death at trial. Declared innocent. |
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Shirasaki Case Died 1990/11/12 |
Defendant: Miki Toshio ~~~~~ Indicted 10 days before the 15 year SOL expired in Nov of 2005. |
Sentenced to 13 years in April of 2006. Currently on appeal. |
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NAKAZAKI Ichinari 中崎一成 |
Defendant: Nakazaki Ichinari ~~~ Arrested (July 9, 2011) and charged with rape one month before the 7 year SOL expired. |
Unknown. Apparently not prosecuted. |
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KUDO Kazuko |
Kazuko Kudo (female) ~~~ Arrested in Nov of 1998 for the murder of a 9 year old boy in 1984, 2 months before the 15 year SOL expired. |
Found not guilty. |
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Kawaguchi Rape Case |
Nozawa Toru ~~~ Arrested for raping a ten year old girl, just 27 hours before the 10 year statute of limitations expired. |
Convicted and sentenced to six years. |
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KIMURA (Mitsunobu?) 木村光伸 |
Defendant: KIMURA Mitsunobu Crime: June 23, 2013 Arrested June 22, 2020. Charged with forced obsenity upon a six year old girl, one day before the 7 year statute of limitations expired. Location: Sakai city, Osaka. |
Kimura was arrested in May, 2020 for a separate obsenity claim. Police claim the DNA matches the earlier case. |
|
Takarazuka Robbery Case |
OKADA Tatsuya b. 1960 ~~~ Crime: 2005/12/12 Arrested: 2020/12/10 Charges: assault, robbery of 45 million yen, ($400,000), a car, and 19 other items with an estimated value of $90,000. Arrested several hours before the 15 year statute of limitations expired. |